@Big-Swiss Legend has it that, during the two World Wars of the 20th century, British people unknowingly ate huge amounts of horse meat, similar to what is happening today.

But I would say that, yes, it is similar to the USA in that many people feel an affinity with horses in the same way that they do with pets such as dogs and cats, and therefore it is not at all acceptable to be eating them, whereas eating a farm animal bred for that purpose is OK.

As pointed out elsewhere, though, the real scandal is that we have been eating unidentified products of ANY kind. The Soylent Green association is relevant, I suppose, in that, really, who knows?

You could build this into any of those huge conspiracy theories that are knocking around, but the upshot is that people have been misled, and specifically about something that we put into our bodies.